“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”

So said Nelson Mandela.

The current climate of chaos and idiocy has got us thinking, very hard, about positive feedback loops. In particular, our own around education.

Please don’t stop reading here because you think it’s not possible for you: if you aren’t already, you too could (and should) be part of a positive feedback loop. Here’s why:

• For your business: Counterintuitive thinking, Change, intrapreneurship – whatever you want to call it – increases retention rate, boosts productivity and in short, it makes your business better (Ref. and many more)
• For future generations: Education is in a transitional phase and businesses should leverage this. We’ve recently partnered with School 21 – a school that is “doing things differently for the 21st Century”, with the belief that young people can produce work of real value to the world today. An answer to Sir Ken Robinson’s fantastic TED talk. Using young people’s creativity and inimitable perspective benefits your business, in the meantime boosting their knowledge and self-esteem.

• We know it works: Our (Young) Braves programme is part of our loop. And it really is a loop. One that begins with us opening a door and disrupting ourselves: taking on young people from all backgrounds and working with them to innovate, challenge and create.

Below is just one (Young) Brave story in order to demonstrate how simple positive impact can be. Oh and we’ve a challenge for you. Because who doesn’t love/need a challenge.

Sherica, Henry and Kirsty were all at RB’s London office for the summer of 2016.

They were working together on a graduate retention project for one of our clients, ending in a presentation at said client’s head office in Nottingham.

Not only did they educate, challenge and provoke us but they did so with each other, changing each of their paths.

Kirsty, a biology undergraduate, is now going to do Teach First, Sherica is now aiming to apply to top universities, possibly to study biology and Henry realised he could combine his passion (sport) with his interest in communications – he’s now working at Portas Managing Consultancy.

You see, it doesn’t always take much to create change.

“We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something”

Okay, so we didn’t say this. Mother Theresa did. It was used last Thursday in a (Young) Brave presentation about the importance of ‘peer mentoring’.

Why do we use it? Because it nicely sums up the importance and power of impact – however small it feels, it’s significant. Our (Young) Braves programme happens to be educative, but it’s only a part of our feedback loop. For instance, for every paying client we receive, we take on a pro-bono piece of work. So each of our clients becomes a catalyst for positive change. Hard work but good work.

So we challenge you. Challenge you to be brave – step up, be part of or create a positive feedback loop in your company, however small it is. And if you need a guide, you know where to find us.

A Sense of Bravery

GIFTS FOR THE MIND’S EYE

‘On Reading’ – RB Art by our Visual Strategist

Cru– Seu Jorge
A Brazilian recording in Paris and our record of the week

A Smile in the Mind – a beautiful and funny gift from our designer Tamara

Class | GlassCEILING

Two misc. press points for your attention:

1* “Austerity has fallen unequally. The number of children in poverty, which fell by a third in the decade after 2000, is now expected to be back above 3 million by 2020”